Curvaceous appeal

London – Kate Winslet finds the glamorization of ultrathin models and actresses disturbing and says she keeps magazines featuring such women away from her 6-year-old daughter.

“It’s only a matter of time before she becomes aware of it, and it frightens the life out of me,” Winslet said of her daughter, Mia.

Winslet, who is married to director Sam Mendes, said girls are so impressionable from age 11 up to 20.

“They’re trying to figure out who they are, and they want to be loved, and what I resent is that there is an image of perfection that is getting thinner and thinner, and it’s truly upsetting to me,” Winslet told British Broadcasting Corp. television’s “Sunday AM” program.

Stick-thin celebrities like Kate Moss, Nicole Richie and Victoria Beckham have been criticized as poor role models for young women and accused of contributing to the rise in eating disorders. A major fashion event in Madrid, Spain, banned ultrathin models from the catwalk earlier this year, and other shows have indicated they plan to do the same.

The 31-year-old Winslet, who burst on the movie scene in “Titanic” and stars in the current romantic comedy “The Holiday,” said she hoped her success will be an inspiration to others.

“I hope that in some small way I’m able to say, ‘I’m a normal person, I’m doing all right.’ I’ve got a lovely husband and children and I didn’t lose weight to find those things, and those things are what should be important.”

Making career plans

New York – Not yet 13, Dakota Fanning is already thinking about what she’ll do when she grows up. And like other actors, she wants to direct.

“I would love to direct someday,” Fanning told Time magazine for editions on newsstands Monday. “I’ve learned a lot from watching directors I’ve worked with, like Steven Spielberg and Gary Winick, whom I worked with on ‘Charlotte’s Web.’ I would love to have that relationship with another actor.”

Fanning’s latest movie, “Charlotte’s Web,” will be in theaters next month, and an independent movie, “Hound Dog,” to be screened in January at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

She’s excited to go Utah, but not necessarily because of the movies.

“I’ve never been somewhere where there’s that much snow,” she said. “I totally want to go skiing. I’ve heard skiing is super hard, but I’d like to try it.”

Fanning, who becomes a teenager in February, has appeared in other films, including “War of the Worlds” and “Man on Fire.”

Police question Doherty about death at party

London – The family of a man who fell to his death at a party attended by troubled singer Pete Doherty have called for a full police investigation into the incident.

Actor Matt Blanco, 30, was found injured outside an east London apartment building where he had attended a party on Dec. 3 and died later in a hospital.

Doherty and others at the party have been interviewed by police, who reportedly do not consider the singer a suspect. They have said they believe Blanco fell from a balcony. Blanco’s sister, Emma, said the family wanted to know why Doherty and others reportedly left the scene before police arrived.